Vicissitudes of Corruption in Nigerian Judiciary during Economic Comatose: Implications and Eradication Strategies

Abstract

Judiciary is one of the three arms of government in Nigeria vested with the responsibility of interpreting and applying the law without fear or favour. The Nigerian judiciary system being a critical linchpin in combating corruption keeps Nigerians with bated breath during the incidents of awaiting the verdict of the courts. This paper examines the vicissitudes of corruption in Nigerian judiciary system during economic comatose and its implications. The paper explored Nigeria judiciary focused corruption literature and scholarly works to dissect the vicissitudes of judiciary corruption on economic development of Nigeria. The findings revealed that the prevalence of corruption is caused by manipulation of adjudication process by influential members of the society, insufficient salary and welfare package, politicization of appointment of judiciary personnel, inadequate ICT facilities, complex procedural rules and weak monitoring system. The study further revealed that the economic implications of judicial corruption are poverty, indebtedness, poor productivity, inability to control crime and threats to national security. From the findings of the study, the researchers recommended that judiciary system should be given autonomy to manage its funds for payment of salaries and provision of adequate information management system. The researchers further stressed the need for constitution of special committee comprising of government arms and bar association for the appointment and promotion of judiciary personnel as well as severe penalty for compromised judiciary personnel

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